The present invention relates to an image editing method for a digital copier.
With a digital copier which is attracting much attention today, an editing function is available for editing a document image in various manners so as to reproduce it in a desired form. For example, in an editing system generally referred to as a marker editing system, use is made of a pen or marker for marking a particular area of a document image to be edited, instead of picking up coordinates on a digitized by a pen. The marked area is detected by real-time processing to edit an image or images lying in that area in various manners. Typical of editing techniques known in the art is masking, trimming and negative-positive inversion. The marker editing system has various advantages over the other editing systems heretofore proposed, e.g., it eliminates the need for a digitizer and other special devices, limitations imposed on independent areas and those imposed on the shape of areas to be marked. However, limitations are still unavoidable because the marked areas themselves have to be further clearly distinguished from the other areas. It follows that, when a number of areas of a single document image are marked, unexpected processing is apt to occur to prevent a desired image from being produced. To cope with this problem, there is an increasing demand for an alternative marker editing system which is free from the conventional concept, i.e. a marked area.